Women in Charge at Home Less Likely to Climb Corporate Ladder

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Being ruler of the roost may have its downsides, at least for
women. Being in charge at home may decrease interest in climbing
the ladder at work, new research suggests.

The findings, presented today (Jan. 18) at the annual meeting of
the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in New Orleans,
may reveal another reason
why women typically don't rise in the workplace ranks as
quickly as men.

"It appears that being in charge of household decisions may bring
a semblance of power to women's traditional role, to the point
where women may have less desire to push against the obstacles to
achieving additional power outside the home," said study
co-author Serena Chen, a psychologist at UC Berkeley, in a
statement.

Mom-in-chief

In 2010, women in the United States earned 77 cents for every
dollar men made and held proportionately fewer positions of power
at the office. Social scientists have proposed several
explanations for this wage
gap. Though discrimination plays a large role, Chen and her
colleagues wanted to see how attitudes about home life could also
affect
women's advancement.

The research team asked 136 men and women ages 18 to 30 whether
being in control at home was desirable and empowering. Everyone
said being the boss at home was desirable and empowering.

Next, the team asked 166 women to imagine one of two situations:
one in which she was
parenting a child with her husband and also made most
household decisions, and the other in which she and her husband
shared those duties.

Those who imagined being the household boss rated high salaries
as less desirable than those who shared household
decision-making.

Finally, the team asked 644 male and female participants to
choose between two different scenarios: one in which they had a
child and still controlled household decision-making, and one in
which they did most of the housework but didn't have control over
the domestic realm.

Women who had household power rated workplace
power as less important than those who didn't rule the roost.
Meanwhile, men had the same interest in climbing the ladder
whether or not they were in charge at home.

The researchers also found doing the
drudgery at home without having the power didn't reduce
women's interest in workplace clout.

The findings suggest that being the household decision-maker
could thwart interest in getting the corner office at work.

"To realize true gender equality in both the private and public
spheres, our results suggest that women may need to at least
partially abdicate their role of ultimate household deciders, and
men must agree to share such decision-making," Chen said in a
statement.